“The princes who now possess this sacred asylum of oriental despotism [Kremlin] call themselves Europeans, because they have chased the Calmucs, their brethren, their tyrants, and their instructors, out of Muscovy. None resemble the khans of Sarai so much as their antagonists, the czars of Moscow, who have borrowed from them even to their very title. The Russians gave the name of czars to the khans of the Tartars. Karamsin says, on this subject, vol. VI. p. 438: — “This word is not derived from the Latin Ccesar, as several learned men erroneously suppose. It is an ancient oriental word, as may be seen in the Sclavonian translation of the Bible; and it was first given by us to the emperors of the East, and afterwards to the Tartar khans. It signifies, in Persic, a throne, or supreme authority; and it is to be traced in the termination of the names of the Assyrian and Babylonish kings, as Phalassar, Nabonassar, &c.” He adds, in a note, ” In our translation of the Holy Scriptures, Kessar is written for Caesar; but tzar, or czar, is altogether a different word.”
How Moscow became capital in 1327 >
Ivan IV the Terrible was not a Tzar. Forged title credentials >
